Russell Crowe: Terror Target?
March 9, 2005 
It seems that it’s not just the Western world who can’t stand Russell Crowe’s advances into the world of music.
In 2001, al-Qaeda planned to kidnap the tough actor and frontman of 30 Odd Foot of Grunts.
Crowe says al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him:
For those of you who don’t know, Crowe was born in New Zealand and has long owned a ranch in Australia. But of course, Hollywood made him famous, casting him in roles such as the lead in Gladiator.Russell Crowe says Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network wanted to kidnap him as part of a “cultural destabilization plot,” according to an Australian magazine.
In an interview published in the March edition of Australia’s GQ magazine, Crowe said FBI agents told him of the threat in 2001, in the months before he won a best actor Oscar for his role as Maximus in Gladiator.
“That was the first (time) I’d ever heard the phrase ‘al-Qaeda,’” Crowe said. “It was about — and here’s another little touch of irony — taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as sort of a cultural destabilization plot,” he added.
After the FBI notified Crowe of the plot, they sent agents to guard him at movie openings and award shows. He also hired a team of personal security.
No word on whether Osama bin Laden has any 30 Odd Foot of Grunts CD’s or if he just wanted to recreate the plot of Gladiator in his cave hideout.
